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CNN Live At Daybreak

Eighteen Killed in Suicide Bus Bombing

Aired June 18, 2002 - 05:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon actually went to the latest deadly bomb scene. He was literally surrounded by security.

For more, we want to go live to that country, and CNN's Jerrold Kessel, who is in our Jerusalem bureau -- tell us what happened this time, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, just first, the casualty figures. Another person has died of injuries, and it is now 18 people killed by this suicide bomber, and more than 50 wounded, of whom hospitals here in Jerusalem reporting five in serious condition.

Bus number 32A was on its way from one of the outlying neighborhoods of Jerusalem, the Gilo neighborhood -- that's one of the outlying suburbs, built in areas which Israel annexed in 1967 -- heading towards the city center.

It was rush hour, and there were many, many pupils, high school pupils, on their way to lessons on board that bus, and very soon afterwards, as the grim scene unfolded, there were parents who were rushing to the scene. Also rushing to the hospitals to ascertain whether their children were among those who had been killed or wounded in this latest attack.

The bus, the police say, had stopped -- it had just made a stop at an Arab village which lies in the -- within the perimeter of Jerusalem, and as it reached a busy intersection, traffic intersection, the explosion occurred.

The police believe the bomber may have boarded at that stop in the Arab village or, perhaps, had boarded earlier after crossing from Bethlehem on the West Bank -- Bethlehem lying just a few miles to the south of Jerusalem, and although Israel maintains tight security around that West Bank town, it is relatively easy for Palestinians who want to cross out of Bethlehem and cross into Jerusalem to do so, and, perhaps that is, police believe, what the bomber did.

And even as the bodies were laying out on the side of -- alongside the completely battered and destroyed, devastated bus, Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, made a rare visit to a scene of one of the terrorist strikes, this latest of the Palestinian terror attacks, and the Prime Minister, therefore, in a sense, raising speculation about whether this time, the Israeli response to this attack might be upped a notch or even more than one notch.

And on the scene, Mr. Sharon had this to say -- he said, "this is such a terrible scene. It's what -- what we see here is stronger than any words can describe."

And, then, the Israeli prime minister went on and said, "this terrible thing, this ongoing Palestinian terror, must be battled, must be combated," and he added, "we shall do so."

So that the message from the Israeli Prime Minister on the scene, and even as the grim scene was -- was unfolding there, clearly, the political and the security ramifications, the implications, of this latest Palestinian terror strike continue to reverberate, and the question is now of what happens next -- Carol.

COSTELLO: You know, Jerrold, President Bush is planning to release his plan for peace in that region. How does this affect that, do you think?

KESSEL: Well, I think it's first right to point out that the Palestinian Authority was very quick to condemn this attack, to condemn, as it often does, attacks on Israeli civilians within Israel, and that's suggesting that the Palestinians have, as everybody in the region have their minds very much on what the President will say. The region, you could say, is really on tenterhooks waiting.

The President laying out the U.S. vision of how best this whole crisis, the whole conflict can be settled, but clearly, it will be Israel waiting to see what will be said about the idea of a provisional Palestinian state. There's been a lot of reports that that is what the President will come down on, and there was a message, you could say, almost bleakly, perhaps, from Mr. Sharon on the scene when he referred to that. He didn't say anything specific, but he said, he brought the question -- he brought the issue up in his statement.

He said, "I wonder what sort of Palestinian state is being referred to, it's interesting what kind of Palestinian state they're talking about."

That's what Mr. Sharon had to say because the Israelis are not at all happy about that idea that there will be a Palestinian state being given the endorsement at this stage. They regard it, at least Prime Minister Sharon regards it, as a prize for terror, for Yasser Arafat. He doesn't want to see that coming about, see it in the Bush message.

Now, the question will be, will Mr. Sharon wait to see what the President has to say, or will he act -- as he promises to act, to try to combat Palestinian terror. Big questions unfolding after this latest devastating attack -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Right about that. Jerrold Kessel reporting live from Jerusalem this morning. Thank you.

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